Screen Australia Narrative Content Development

Eligibility and project requirements

An individual applicant must be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident holding a permanent visa, and the project must be written and directed by Australian citizens or permanent residents, except for anticipated official co-productions. An Australian Business Number is required, and GST registration where the law requires it. A LONE WRITER CAN APPLY: the programme is open to companies and individuals, either alone or as part of a team as co-applicants. Note the catch on returning, though: if you secure initial funding without a producer or production company attached, any further application must have one. Eligible formats are online and direct-to-audience content including VR, XR, AR and social media, episodic or feature-length television including streaming and broadcast video on demand, and theatrical feature film, with a production budget not exceeding 30 million Australian dollars. Ineligible: documentary, factual, sporting or entertainment content, games, unofficial co-productions, retrospective costs, purchase of underlying intellectual property, proof-of-concept or teaser production costs, and projects currently or previously funded by or under a development agreement with a commissioning platform such as a broadcaster or streamer. Projects declined twice are barred.

Formats

Feature, TV Pilot

Open to

Australia

Deadlines & fees

Dates and fees checked against the official site 19 Oct 2026. That is longer ago than we aim for; confirm on the official site before entering.

Prepare your entry

Prizes

Between 10,000 and 50,000 Australian dollars per application, with no cap on the number of awards published and funding made continuously rather than in rounds. READ THE REPAYMENT TERM BEFORE THE HEADLINE: Screen Australia states that funding will be provided by way of grant, repayable to Screen Australia if the project goes into production, whether or not that project receives production funding from Screen Australia. Note the trigger is the project going into production rather than the first day of principal photography, which is the wording used in a different Screen Australia document that does not govern this scheme. No premium, uplift or interest on repayment is published. There is also a tax consequence: where development funding is not repaid because the project is produced, that expenditure cannot be claimed as qualifying Australian production expenditure. RIGHTS: Screen Australia takes no option, first refusal, profit participation or copyright share at development stage. The obligations run the other way, requiring applicants to control the rights, to hold or be able to acquire an assignment of all underlying rights including copyright for the project and any sequels, spinoffs and remakes, and to hold options on underlying works running at least 18 months from the date of application. Projects receiving 100,000 dollars or more in combined Screen Australia funding must supply a solicitor's opinion letter validating chain of title.

Judging

Applications are assessed against published criteria by Screen Australia staff with industry specialists consulted as required, plus First Nations assessors and specialist or cultural assessors for relevant projects; no individuals are named. The weighting is published: story 60 per cent, talent and development 20 per cent, audience and budget 20 per cent. Assessment takes approximately eight weeks from the moved-to-assessment email. Feedback is explicitly not provided due to application volume, and decisions on applications are final. Successful applicants enter a Development Grant Agreement, and development activities must begin after contracting since retrospective costs cannot be covered.

Frequently asked questions